john boehner still in the house. you are still at the treasury. the president is back in the office. harry reid is in the senate with more seats -- why should i believe this will end any more positively than the summer of 2011? >> i will not try to talk to about optimism, but let's look at what has changed. you have republican leadership acknowledging relief for the first time in this debate in public that they would agree to increase revenues as part of an agreement to help restore fiscal balance. that is a very important change. you could debate what has motivated that change, and of course it is true that that approach has very popular substantial support among the american people. you have a much greater recognition that the economy would benefit from a carefully designed balanced agreement on fiscal reform. putting that off indefinitely is not good for the country. that is important, too. i think, again, if you listen carefully to what people are saying and what many politicians are saying, there is a lot of consensus on the things that would